Housing News Digest
Housing News Digest
The Tenants' Union Housing News Digest compiles our pick of items from all the latest tenancy and housing media, sent once per week, on Thursdays.
Below is the Digest archive from November 2020 onwards. From time to time you will find additional items in the archive that did not make it into the weekly Digest email. Earlier archives are here, where you can also find additional digests by other organisations.
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Archive
Property boom as big a threat to future generations as government debt
Jessica Irvine The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)... And when you make debt cheaper – absent a sharp economic shock – Australians tend to go out in droves and borrow more. That pushes up house prices, making that most basic of human needs – shelter – more expensive for younger Australians to obtain.
https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/property-boom-as-big…
# Australia, Home ownership, Housing affordability, Housing market, Young people.US asset management giant raises £190m from council pension funds for affordable housing venture
Dominic Brady Inside Housing (Paywall)A subsidiary of US-based PGIM has launched a UK affordable housing fund after raising an initial £190m from pooled local authority pension funds across England. ... According to Brunel Pension Partnership (BPP), the fund will target occupiers aged 24 to 34 in lower household income quartiles.
https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/us-asset-management-gi…
# International, Affordable housing, Local Government.Housing approvals hit record high ahead of HomeBuilder grant cut
Jennifer Duke The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Housing approvals hit a record high at the end of 2020 as home builders rushed to take full advantage of historic low interest rates and the federal government’s $25,000 grant for home builders before it reduced in the new year. Read on ...
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/housing-approvals-hit-re…
# Australia, Federal Government, Housing market."I'm saving $320 a month": How COVID has affected what Aussie women spend on rent.
Helen Vnuk (No paywall)Right now is a terrible time to be a renter – or a very good time. There’s an enormous divide between people renting houses in country areas and people renting apartments in inner-city Sydney and Melbourne. Read on ... (Mamamia)
# TUNSW in the media NSW, Rent, Coronavirus COVID-19, Regional NSW.Singapore is building a 42,000-home eco 'smart' city
Oscar Holland (No paywall)In a country where over 80% of residents live in public housing, a government commitment to sustainable urban design could have huge implications. And when it's a tropical country where convenience and air conditioning are a way of life, the impact could be greater still. Promising 42,000 new homes across five residential districts, the eco-town of Tengah -- the Malay word for "middle," though it's in the island's western region -- will be the 24th new settlement built by Singapore's government since World War II. It is, however, the first with centralized cooling, automated trash collection and a car-free town center, which conservationists hope offers a roadmap for slashing carbon emissions in the Southeast Asian city-state.
https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/singapore-tengah-eco-town/…
# International, Public and community housing, Utilities electricity water gas, Planning and development.February interest rate announcement: RBA holds cash rate steady as house prices surge
Sue Williams Domain (Paywall)The official interest rate is being held at its record low of 0.10 per cent, the Reserve Bank of Australia has announced after its February 2 meeting. The ‘steady as she goes’ decision was widely expected by economists around Australia, despite the 2020 surge in house prices revealed in the latest Domain House Report of 4.5 per cent across all national capitals and 7.3 per cent across the regions.
https://www.domain.com.au/money-markets/february-interest-rate-a…
# Australia, Housing market.House prices predicted to rise by up to 10 per cent in 2021
Melissa Heagney Domain (Paywall)Australia’s “ferocious” property market is forecast to soar by up to 10 per cent this year, following new data that shows house prices and new loan commitments have hit record highs.
https://www.domain.com.au/news/loans-and-house-values-at-record-…
# Australia, Coronavirus COVID-19, Housing market.‘Holy grail’ of taxing land owners who profit from ‘stroke of a pen’ proves elusive
Matt O'Sullivan The Sydney Morning Herald (Paywall)Planning Minister Rob Stokes says major political challenges have hampered the NSW government in setting up a levy or tax on land values that skyrocket as a direct result of infrastructure projects. Mr Stokes agreed that some of the uplift in land values due to government-funded projects – such as Sydney’s second airport at Badgerys Creek – should go toward paying for the infrastructure required to support the extra development.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/holy-grail-of-taxing-land-ow…
# NSW, Planning and development, Tax.